


In Orbit

by CmonCmon



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Couch Cuddles, M/M, Soft Wars, Trauma Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24415408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CmonCmon/pseuds/CmonCmon
Summary: Bacara has learned a lot about himself. The question is what to do next.
Relationships: CC-1138 | Bacara/CT-7567 | Rex
Comments: 27
Kudos: 243
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	In Orbit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Project0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Eyes Ever Forward](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23814394) by [Project0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506). 



> After the events of [Hold Steady](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24360103), Bacara really needed a hug, and someone to listen. Good thing Rex was available.
> 
> As always, big thanks to [SailorSol](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol) for the beta and the hand holding.

“Tell me about him.”

They’re wrapped up in each other on the couch. The bed wasn’t all _that_ far away, but it was still too far. Bacara could choose not to answer. That might have been why Rex hadn’t asked it as a question.

“Difficult.” Bacara’s curved around him, his head resting on Rex's chest just to feel him closer. It had been too fresh to talk about when Bacara had first gotten home. He'd needed time and more than that, he’d needed the comfort of Rex and the space he shares with Rex, to ground him first. One hand is idly playing with Bacara’s hair. The other is massaging the sore muscle in Bacara’s shoulder just hard enough to hurt. It was the kind of hurt that feels like it's helping because of it.

Bacara hadn’t mentioned the shoulder. Rex had clocked it before he’d had his boots off.

Rex still hadn’t asked where it had come from.

The hand at the base of his head gave his hair a gentle tug, dragging Bacara back to the moment. He hadn’t answered.

If Bacara was the kind of person who could be glib, he’d tell Rex all about what a pest Neyo had been all afternoon. Bacara wasn’t contrary enough to deliberately misunderstand him on a good day, and especially not after a day like this.

“Difficult, and sad.” He didn’t know how to say more without saying too much. There was nothing he couldn’t tell Rex, but there were some things he’d rather not. This wasn't the kind of burden he needed to put on Rex. Bacara’s fingertips traced ribs and muscles as he thought out his words. “I think I helped him. But it’s not enough.”

Rex didn’t argue that it had been. That was the only reason Bacara kept talking.

“Should have brought you.” Bacara thumped his fingers on Rex’s sternum to hear it repeat in his ear. _You would have helped him more_ , is what Bacara doesn’t say. This wasn’t Rex’s to fix. Yet, that was the thought that wore him down most of the way home. The rest of his thoughts weren't much better - a muddle of exhaustion, frustration, and anger. At the JP. At the war. At himself. “I don’t remember being like that.”

_Being that sad._

“But I doubt I was any different.”

He remembers being alone. That more than anything. Remembers being an outsider, feeling like there was no way to bridge the gap between himself and his brothers. Neyo was a moon, orbiting the vode from a distance, but close enough Bacara could reach him from dead space.

Rex’s fingers still. In the lifetime before now, that small shift would have set Bacara’s mind racing, certain he had said the wrong thing. Certain he should have kept his mouth shut. Instead, Rex wrapped him in closer, one hand firm on the back of his neck, holding him in a way that made Bacara melt further into the couch and Rex’s chest.

“He’s smart.” Words came out of Bacara. “Clever. Has only one friend, but won’t even call him a friend. Still shiny, but not too shiny. Room to grow.” Rex’s hand began to knead at the base of his neck and Bacara didn’t know how he’d ever get himself to move again. “He has so much potential. More than I had at that age. Would have been an excellent officer." A hint of a smile caught the corner of his mouth. " Your Torrent would have spoiled him rotten. Needs to be fed and trained and…” There was a catch in Bacara’s breathing that caught him by surprise, but not Rex. Rex just pressed a kiss to his forehead paired with a light scrape of stubble. “The war is over, but when he looked at me… He was lost without it. I didn’t know what to tell him.”

 _I should have known what to say._ That failure had driven the anger Bacara had directed at himself since he'd left the kid. Bacara was still learning about serving himself and his family instead of the GAR. He was still learning about peace. How could he teach someone else? If he didn't, who else could?

“I think he’d like it if you were there to help him find out.” Rex’s words were pressed against his skin.

Bacara had never had vode before. He didn't know how. He’d had Neyo for a tat’ka, in a way. Eventually he had Rex. He’d never had vode like Rex with his Shebse, never connected to his marines like Rex had with Torrent, no matter how much he would give for them. He’d never thought he could want that for himself. Never considered he could have it.

Bacara had never had vode before, but maybe it was time to start.


End file.
